


Ice Lessons

by roo1965



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Injury, Misunderstandings, implied kidnap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-19
Updated: 2013-04-19
Packaged: 2017-12-08 23:01:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/767071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roo1965/pseuds/roo1965
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack's ice skating outing with Cassie doesn't go to plan when someone decides to teach Jack a lesson instead...</p><p>set immediately after Season 3  Into the fire</p><p>written Feb 2004-june 2004</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ice Lessons

Colonel Jack O'Neill wondered if this was really such a good idea, as he drove to the ice rink- especially after what he'd just been through. But as he glanced over at Cassie's delighted smile, he realized that he'd made her day and there was no way he was going to back out now. He was determined to make the most out of the impromptu afternoon off for both of them.

Besides, they'd all missed Cassie's birthday whilst being in the clutches of Hathor for several weeks. 

He couldn't suppress the involuntary shudder and then realized that the truck had veered off to one side as he found his hand automatically rubbing at the scar at the back of his neck where the snake had gone in. He swallowed hard, cleared his throat and put his hand back on the wheel.

“Jack?” she glanced over at him, wondering again about the small red disc shaped scar on his right temple.

“It's ok, Cassie.”

*I'm not cold, I'm not cold* he told himself furiously. * The sun is shining, it is hot, it was hot- really hot*

At last they arrived. Cassie got out immediately; then Jack got out and looked around the parking lot, and wiped the sweat off his forehead.

“Are you alright Jack?”

“Yeah fine Cassie.”

“Why couldn't Janet come pick me up?”

“She had an emergency, I left her a message. Besides I'd much rather be with you than at work” he smiled at her as he locked the truck.

“Are you supposed to be at work Jack? You mean you didn't have the afternoon off?” she asked concern creasing her face

“Not exactly. I mean I've been away for weeks- they let me out today. I missed your birthday. So are you looking forward to your surprise?” he asked

“Well, I have an idea, cause we're at the skating rink!”

“Ah, so that's where we are! I knew you were a smart kid!” and he ruffled her hair as they moved off towards the entrance his other arm round her shoulders.

They didn't notice the group of three high school students watching them closely. They were parked two cars over from Jack and had heard their conversation.

Jack and Cassie made their way into the foyer of the rink. He paid the entrance fee and the skate rental. Cassie waited patiently while he persuaded the attendant to find a pair of hockey skates for him. No way was he wearing the other sort. They made their way to the side of the rink weaving their way through food stands and put on the skates, leaving their own shoes in lockers rink side.

“Can we go on now, Jack? Please?”

“Let me check you've done up those skates properly first.”

Cassie couldn't wait to get on the ice. Although she hadn't done a lot of skating, she * was* getting better. Jack was a patient teacher, but he was also a lot of fun too. She loved the feel of the crisp air rushing through her hair as he whirled her about the ice. She also liked to watch him skating on his own- it wasn't often anyone saw him really relax and enjoy himself.

“Ok you're good to go.”

She started towards the gate onto the rink

“Ah ah ah” he warned her waving his hand in front of her face

“Just give me a few minutes. I want to warm up a bit before you get on here and drag me all over the place.”

He eased himself onto the ice, checking the skates were gliding smoothly. He moved round the edge of the rink, sure and graceful, gradually picking up speed until he was happy his muscles were warmed up. These weren't his own hockey skates and he had to be sure he was used to them. Nevertheless he managed to halt in a fine spray of ice next to Cassie. He opened the gate and held out his hands for her to hold onto as she stepped onto the ice.

“Okay kiddo?”

“Of course.”

“You know the routine. We'll go round- get you warmed up and used to the feel of everything. Then see how you do.”

At this time of the afternoon mid week there weren't many people in the rink, the students were now on the ice as well as one or two families.

“This really was a surprise thing wasn't it?” asked Cassie as she slowly made her way round the side of the rink. Her hand firmly in his hand as he skated backwards gently pulling her along.

“What do you mean?” he asked

“You usually bring your own skates if you can, which means you didn't know we were going to do this, or have time to go home first.” she explained

“I said it was a surprise! And Janet really does have an emergency. I left a message for her to come by later if she can make it. We'll see about dinner as well.”

“So…” she prompted

“What?”

“So what were you supposed to be doing at work but had to leave to get me?”

“Oh that! I was in the neighborhood and I needed some fresh air”

“Hmm”

*Does she know she sounds just like the Doc when she does that?* he wondered.

“I hate paperwork. I'm not getting all my memos- did you know that?” he said with a mock serious face.

“Anyway I thought if I left this one report til later I'd feel like actually doing it- some other time - when I can get my head round it. Just...just not at the moment.” he tried to explain, wincing at the phrase he'd just used. Precisely the reason he couldn't write out what had happened to him, no- all of them at the fake SGC. He shivered. * Why am I trying to justify myself to a 13 year old anyway?*

Cassie was staring at him “I thought you'd be hot by now. You can let go Jack, I want do this on my own.”

He let go and swiveled round so that he was skating along side her. She was doing great. Not exactly neat but slow and sure.

“This is * so* cool!” she laughed

“It is, isn't it.” he agreed smiling at her joy at something so simple.

“Thanks Jack.”

“Don't mention it. I'm kidding!” he laughed as he saw her startled expression.

He slowed down and let Cassie go on at her own pace. Gaining in confidence she managed to skate in circles around him before darting off to carefully weave her way round the other people on the rink.

Jack watched her proudly. He was happy for her- he truly was- it was just that at times like this being with Cassie was a double edged painful sword. A part of him wanted her to be Charlie skating round the rink, playing hockey together, dad stuff. He took a deep breath to compose himself and bent down to check his skates again.

He looked up sharply as he heard a commotion. Cassie was down!

*Shit, I should have been watching! I should have stayed with her!* The Doc was going to have his hide for this if she was hurt. Big needles in the butt would only be the beginning…

Quickly he skated over to where she lay sprawled on the ice and knelt down, his crappy knees were just going to have to live with this. One of the students was down too.

“Cassie! God are you hurt? Talk to me!” his hand reached out to cradle the side of her face.

“Quit worrying Jack. I'm ok honestly. I didn't look and bumped into someone else.”

“Don't be hard on her, it was my fault. I turned round and there she was I couldn't avoid her.” said the young man.

“Let me help you up.” he offered reaching over to Cassie.

“No, it's okay I've got it, thanks.” replied Jack as he hauled Cassie upright again and dusted her off.

“At least I didn't land on my face. It coulda been worse.” she grinned up at him

“Yeah, worse, right.”

Jack had forgotten how easily kids shrugged things off. She didn't seem bothered at all. It was him that had forgotten to breathe. Some kids just bounced right back.   
*and some don't * the nasty part of his brain said.

“Ah- how about a break, then we can have another go. Up to you- whatever you want.” he suggested

“I'd like to stay on a while longer; we haven't been on that long. Besides I need to get back on the horse, right?” she decided firmly.

“Who made you so smart? Can't be hanging around with me that's for sure!”

She giggled at him and they moved off together.

After another twenty minutes or so Cassie had had enough. Jack was glad for a break too. They skated over to the side where their lockers were and carefully clumped their way to one of the food stands. They bought milkshakes, compared milk moustaches and had a competition to see who could make the most noise with the straw. Serious business over, Jack excused himself for a few minutes.

Cassie sat with her booted feet on the opposite chair toying with the straw in the glass. Suddenly a voice from the side rail made her turn around. It was the guy who she'd bumped into and his two friends.

“Hi there, my name's Rob and these are Willard and Denny.” he said as the others nodded at her.

“Hello, I'm Cassie.” she replied cautiously.

“He left you all alone?”

“Men's room I guess.”

“So what's with the old guy?”

“Jack?” she never thought of him as old- he was just Jack.

“Yeah, if that's his name.”

“He's a friend. Like an honorary dad.” she couldn't understand what the problem was.

“Is that right?”

“Yes ,what's it to you?”

“You come here a lot with him?”

“Not as often as he'd like. He's away a lot. I haven't seen him for ages.” She didn't understand the look that passed between Rob and the others.

“My teacher got sick at school today and we were sent home early. He snuck out of work to bring me here. Jack said mom couldn't make it * again *.” She continued. It was true she did get tired of her mom's commitment to the base.

“That happens a lot, being on your own?”

“It's okay. I go to friends or…”

“Jack.”

“Yes, how did you guess? There's also Sam, Daniel and…Murray. They…”

“Cassie?” Jack stood behind her; she turned round as his hand rested on her shoulder.

“Everything all right here? Hi, how are you doing? The name's Jack O'Neill.” he introduced himself.

“Cassie, what have I said about talking to people?”

“It's okay I didn't say anything…” Cassie rushed to explain. There was that look again between the trio.

“Sir, we were just checking she was alright. We'll go now. Nice to meetcha Cassie. Take care now.” and they skated off.

Jack stared at them thoughtfully he'd caught the end of the conversation and even he could sense undercurrents. The youngsters seemed to be asking odd questions, why they'd be interested in his whereabouts he didn't have a clue. He didn't know them at all.

He put it out of his mind as they both went back onto the ice, which was the reason they'd come here after all- to blow the cobwebs away and catch up with each other.

The rest of the afternoon passed very quickly with Cassie building up experience on the ice and changing direction and speed. She managed not to get too dizzy when Jack using his height advantage was able to get her to twirl round on the spot like the figure skaters did. After they'd tried playing ‘catch me if you can' she got tired, he tucked her under his arm and gently skated round with him doing most of the work.

“Come on shortstuff, time to pack in for the day.”

“Okay Jack” she'd had a great afternoon so she didn't protest. She was looking forward to her mom turning up and having dinner out. Maybe Sam and the others would come too. Perhaps she'd find out where they'd all been for the last umpteen weeks that had her mom so worried.

“Well that was a lot of fun.” she said with a smile

“Maybe you'd like to try fishing sometime. You've never made it to the cabin have you?”

“There aren't any fish in that lake!”

“Hey, just who have you been talking to?!” Jack protested.

“That's for me to know and you to find out!” she laughed at him.

Cassie sped to the side and made it through the gate first and took off her boots in a flurry, still in her socks she scooted off-sneakers dangling from her hand.

“Back in a minute Jack. I gotta go somewhere!”

“Don't let me stop you! I'll clean up here, meet me out front in ten minutes.”

By the time Jack got to the side of the rink Cassie was nowhere in sight but her boots lay abandoned on the floor.

A voice behind him said “Hey, you dropped something.”

“What?” Jack said as he turned round to be met by a vicious punch in the face. His nose crunched and blood began to drip wetly down his face, even as his feet slipped from under him. Jack fell backwards at an angle his head clipping the side wall. One arm flailed for balance and smacked into the ice.

Pain blossomed in the left side of his head, behind his eyes; his left wrist shot agonizing pain up his arm. He could vaguely see faces peering down at him then it all went black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He was *so* cold, it was freezing.

No * he* was freezing and his head hurt. Hathor! Shit! Snake time! Hadn't he done this already? Talk about déjà vu. That thought snapped his eyes open. *Ow* Bright lights way up in the ceiling, lots and lots of lights.

Smooth cold was seeping through his clothes. Not the Infirmary, not Hathor, then where? Oh yes the ice rink. Cassie!

He put out a hand to sit up- and then wished he hadn't as pain shrieked up his left wrist, up his arm and connected with the dots in front of his eyes.

Crap - that * really* hurt.

His moan and movement signaled to someone that he was awake

“Don't move.”

* What a good idea* his body agreed, but his stupid mouth said otherwise.

“I'm okay just give me a minute.”

“The cops are on their way.”

“Oh God- Cassie!”

“It's okay she's safe, she won't come to any harm now.”

“What? You see who did this?”

“Yes. Me.”

“I don't understand.” he figured it was one of the students, but why?

“It's for your own good. We know who you are, * what* you are. Did you think you'd never get caught? We've been patrolling the schools.”

“Huh.”

“Oh come on. The papers have been full of it for months. 6ft male greying hair, charmer, probably has a cabin or hideaway. Opportunist. Bastard how could you!” this last was punctuated by a swift boot to the ribs.

All he could do was curl up on the ice, trying to figure out what the heck was going on. He was so afraid for Cassie. That was when he realised that when he'd blacked out they'd removed his skates; no wonder he was so cold.

He started to move his legs to get up, but hands grabbed him turned him onto his front, holding his legs down.

“Let me go, dammit.” he ground out.

“No way mister, the cops are coming for you.”

His face was scrunched into the ice, as more hands moved his arms behind his back to stop him from moving. Fighting the pain in his nose and face, not to mention the agony from his wrist- he wasn't going anywhere soon.

Outside a siren wailed and stopped. Doors slammed and several pairs of feet headed towards the rink as he watched blood from his nose pool and freeze on the ice. Not long now he hoped and this could all be cleared up. Radios squawked as the police officers got to the side of the rink.

“Ok which one of you called it in?”

“Me- officer. Rob Ackerly. We made a citizens arrest.”

“Were you not told to wait for the proper authorities, son?”

“He was going to get away with the girl!”

“Everybody just calm down, one at a time.”

“He's got a black truck!”

“Right, we'll check that out as well, now where is he?”

“Down here.” and the officer leant over.

“Jeeze, he's a mess. He put up a fight against you?”

“Um, no that was me. I'm on the boxing team at school.”

“Great just great. I see. Where's the girl now?”

“She's out front with what looks like her mom or a friend who's just arrived- we heard him say he'd be out in 10 minutes so we acted fast, they'll be coming back any minute.”

“Spencer, get Rob here to point out the girl then you're all coming in to make statements and sort this out at the station house- separate cars. We need statements from everybody at the rink this afternoon.” he ordered the second officer.

“Sir? Stay where you are. Those kids are going to let you up, but I'm going to have to handcuff you and search you.”

“I haven't done anything, officer.” Jack stated as he was hauled onto his protesting knees before standing upright. Stiffly he shuffled the two steps off the ice and onto the rubber matting.

“Where's your shoes and wallet sir?”

“Just here.” Jack nodded towards the still open locker where Cassie had left it. The officer put his shoes on the floor for him. Slowly Jack did his shoes up, his wrist complaining about the twisting motion.

“Turn around sir.” he did so and hissed as the cuffs pulled and then snapped tightly round his wrists.

“What?”

“Think I've busted my wrist.”

“Says you, the kid popped one on your nose that's all I can see.” said the officer as he was pulled towards the wall and searched. He fished out his wallet and truck keys

“Colonel O'Neill?” the officer queried reading from his ID card

“Yes that's me. ” why did the guy sound so surprised? Half the town must work in the Mountain.

“Are you going to charge the kid- Rob was it? for assault, because he started it?”

“Well at the moment sir, you are helping us with our enquiries.”

“What enquiries?”

“You were seen acting suspiciously; you match the description of an individual who has been attacking young girls in the county for the past few months. The perpetrator owns a black truck. The kids thought you were going to abduct the girl. We just need to check a few things out.”

“What?! No way! You've made a huge mistake here pal.”

“We'll see back at the station sir. A detective from serious crimes will want to interview you.”

“Hang on, let me call Gen…” he started

“You can make your call later.” the officer interrupted as he led Jack out through the lobby and to the squad car.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
Doctor Janet Fraiser

She had had a very long day in the Infirmary, and was glad that the Colonel was free to pick up Cassie from school unexpectedly. She had cleared him for duty and given the all clear to go off base that morning once they were sure that there were no side effects from being frozen twice, not to mention the breakdown products of the Goa'uld that had been briefly implanted.

The only thing she was worried about really was the effect this had had on the Colonel and the rest of SG1. This was a nightmare come true. She knew better than to expect him to say anything to her about how he really felt about it, what the Goa'uld had felt like- that sort of thing. He would brush it aside and make light of it. It was a typical reaction from him given what life had thrown him.

He'd left a message mid afternoon saying they were still at the ice rink – a strange choice given recent events but she wondered if he needed to get out of the SGC complex- to convince himself that he really was in Colorado , and not on another planet. Still, she managed to get away from the base around the time the Colonel said they'd still be there by, so she expected to see both of them waiting for her when she arrived.

Janet met Cassie in the foyer- she was watching one of the TVs showing an ice skating competition. Cassie immediately began telling her what a great afternoon they'd had, and then asked about her day at the SGC. They lost track of time and the Colonel.

Suddenly they heard police sirens and saw two squad cars pulled up, officers got out and made their way purposefully through the foyer to the rink side.

“I wonder what's going on- maybe someone's had an accident.” Cassie wondered.

“No paramedics.” said Janet

Then an officer and young student came and identified Cassie, the officer started asking Janet how come she hadn't picked Cassie up that day and who she was with, did she really know him and what car he drove and that it was best if they answered further questions at the station.

As they were herded towards the car they were stunned to see the Colonel coming out walking handcuffed between two officers, bloody nosed and slightly dazed. This was a new record for him; he wasn't even safe on this planet let alone an alien one. No-one else seemed to be hurt so he hadn't started a fight. It was unlike him to be clumsy or caught off guard.

Janet tried to talk to him, Cassie was crying in the background, she didn't understand what was going on, and the officers wouldn't let them near. Janet could see him struggling not to get in the car as he shouted

“Phone Hammond !”

She nodded as he was pulled into the car and sped off. Their car followed at a slower pace. Doctor Fraiser sat in the back with one arm around Cassie as she speed dialed with the other.

“‘General? It's Doctor Fraiser here. Yes sir, I know I've just finished shift but we've got a situation here. It's Colonel O'Neill; it looks like he's been arrested. Cassie and I are on our way to the police station as well. We'll keep you posted when we know more details.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jack

He sat in the back of the police car trying to find a comfortable way to sit without the cuffs pulling on his wrist and failed. On the plus side at least his nose had stopped bleeding. On the down side he could feel his face swelling up painfully. He could feel the eyes and minds of the officers on him as they sped through town. There was nothing he could say or ask- they seemed to have judged him already. How am I going to make this up to Cassie? What was she going to think?

Of all the things he could imagine himself being picked up for, this certainly wasn't it. A parking ticket, a fight in a bar maybe years ago when he'd sunk too many beers and whiskies after Charlie died and the divorce. But not *this.*

He knew he hadn't done anything and he felt unclean already.

Hell, he knew how he felt when he saw news reports of kids going missing only to turn up later traumatized in one way or another, or dead. He knew what it was like to lose a child. He knew how he felt when he saw reports of parents or trusted people abusing children in their care. This was not like fighting the Goa'uld, facing planetary dangers every day; this was a whole different ugly war.

On arrival at the station he was processed, the fingerprint card routine was especially painful. At least they could send that off to various databases- he knew his service record- [such as was available publicly] - would turn up in due course.

They could confirm things with General Hammond and he would be *so* out of here. The General was going to blow a gasket for sure. He wondered how Cassie was, and the Doc.

He waited, he wished he could pace up and down- something- but that would make the police officers even more wary. His being a USAF officer didn't seem to be helping the situation any, if the looks he was getting were anything to go by.

“Hey, stop that!” growled a voice

But it was going to take a bit of time. Would they start questioning people? Sara? God he hoped not. He'd put her through so much hurt she didn't need any more. He wondered if they had already pulled in his truck or if they were going to search his house in the next few hours. They wouldn't find anything of course; he knew the authorities had procedures and leads to follow through. He didn't blame them really; just hoped things wouldn't get too ugly before the cavalry arrived. He still waited.

He was jerked out of his musings by a vicious kick to the chair he was sitting on.

“What?”

“I said stop doing that! You're distracting everybody.”

Then he realized he'd been tapping his feet against the chair legs and metal bin. He supposed it was better than the usual ‘Kree' and whack on the back of the knees. The damn god wannabes never understood that with his knees he couldn't kneel for minutes without agony, let alone hours.

Just then a detective from Serious Crimes appeared with a folder and printouts.

“I think we can lose the cuffs now Heywood.” he nodded to the officer who had brought him in and processed him.

“Didn't the police doctor come up and check you out? Don't answer that- I can see for myself. The name's Langley- Special Crimes.” he introduced himself.

“I called but he's busy elsewhere, on his way.” said Heywood as he came round the desk with the key

Great, was this it? Was he going now? Jack thought as he stood up and turned around so the cuffs could be undone. His left wrist throbbed as it swung lose.

“I can't interview you if you're not fit. Do you want to wait for the doctor or we can get a paramedic.” Langley offered.

“No I'm fine. Really, had worse, it just looks messy. It'll clean up.”' Jack reassured him. Willing the other man to believe him so they could get this over with.

“Colonel? If you'd like to follow me please.”

He was tempted to say no actually he didn't want to. He wanted to go home, have a beer, and watch some hockey.

“Sure.” he said and followed the man. The quicker he got this sorted out the quicker he could be off doing those things.

He was led into an interview room. The room was very small so the table was right next to the wall. The opposite wall had a window, but Jack knew this was one of those two way mirrors. Jack had been on both sides of the interrogation scenario, so he waited for the other man to make the first approach. The detective put the folder and printouts onto the desk and unwrapping a new cassette he put it into the tape recorder. After introducing himself, dating and timing the interview he began.

“Colonel Jonathon O'Neill. Is that correct?”

“It's Jack, only my mother ever called me Jonathon.”

“Is it alright if I call you Colonel?”

“That's my name and rank.”

“I'm just going to say for the record that you were brought in with facial injuries that the police doctor hasn't seen you yet, but that you still agreed to continue. Is this correct?”

“Yes it is.” agreed Jack

“I've been watching you; you're a pretty cool aren't you. An innocent man would be shouting and yelling by now. But you, nothing.”

“I tried the shouting bit it got me nowhere. Besides I'm waiting for you to find out what a big mistake you've made.”

“Oh, so you think we're stupid is that it?”

“Not at all, you're just doing your job. You've got me confused with someone else. You need to sort that out so that I can go back to my job too. Cassie doesn't need to go through all this.”

“Ah finally- well- family liaison are interviewing her and her mother as we speak. The students are doing their bit and then we can all compare stories while we check out a few things. We'll need to your consent to provide a blood and DNA sample.”

“Oh for cryin' out loud!”

“Are you refusing Colonel O'Neill?”

“No, it's just that you can get that from my medical records.”

“I'm sure we can but we'll do our own just to be sure. I'm sure you'll understand.”

“Are you arresting me?” there he'd said it

“That depends doesn't it?” replied the detective

“Do you know why you've been brought in Colonel O'Neill?”

“Something about a guy abducting girls.”

“Do you like girls, Colonel?”

“What kind of a question is that?”

“Just answer please.”

“I like women.”

“That's not what I asked and you know it.”

“I know- whatever I say you'll twist. I like children- just not the sick way you're implying.”

“Who's Cassie?”

“She's the adopted daughter of Captain Janet Fraiser the CMO where I'm based.”

“Known them long?”

“Several years.”

“Get along well with both of them?”

“Yes.”

“Where were you three weeks ago, Colonel?”

“Not in Colorado Springs .” * Hathor! *

“Where exactly?”

“I can't tell you, it's classified.”

“Oh don't give me that crap, Colonel. I thought you'd be better than this!”

“Look- I'd like nothing better than to give you an alibi in a crowded restaurant, believe me, but I can't. We'll both have to live with it. You know I work at the base.” he said hotly

“Are you away a lot?”

“Sometimes - days, weeks here and there.”

“Where were you on 25 March and 3 rd January this year?”

“What? God I don't know.”

“Think, Colonel.”

He thought for a few minutes.

“I was on medical leave in late March, but you could check the duty roster for exact dates. I know I was confined to the base for a day before going back to my house. But I was back on light duty soon afterwards.” He said remembering the painful shoulder blast from the Reetou gun.

“What kind of injury or illness was it?”

“I damaged my right shoulder, no driving for a few days.”

“January?” Langley prompted again

“I was in Washington at the Pentagon with my CO General Hammond. A nice way to start the year.”

“Colonel, this is no joke.”

“I know.”

“Okay, let's move on.”

“Why don't we.”

“Do you have a cabin or country house?”

“Yes I have a cabin - I like to go fishing.”

“Where is it?”

“ Minnesota .” Jack thought he saw Langley 's eyes flicker at that answer .

“How often do you go there?”

“When I can.”

“What does that mean?”

“What it says.”

“Have you been there recently say in the last three weeks or before that?”

“Not recently. I've been away I just told you, and not for a while.”

“Can't you be more specific?”

“No, I'd have to check with personnel, things get complicated at work, I suddenly get time off and just go.”

“Has Cassie ever been there?”

“No.”

“Has Cassie been to your house here in town? I presume you have one?”

“Yes to both those questions.”

“On her own?”

“Not usually.”

“Who with?”

“Her mother Dr Fraiser, other members of my team, and even my CO - he brings his grandkids over too.” replied Jack pointedly.

“How tall are you Colonel?”

“6ft 2.”

“Ever worn a beard or moustache?”

“Not in the Air Force.”

The detective opened the file he'd brought in with him and slid three photos onto the desktop.

“Do you recognize any of these?”

Jack stared at color pictures of three girls roughly Cassie's age with long blonde hair. Two were school photos and posed, the other showed a girl making faces at the camera whilst hugging a large ginger cat.

“No!”

“Sure?”

“Absolutely.”

The photos went away again.

“What make is your truck?”

Jack told him.

“And it's black right?”

“No, its dark green actually, sometimes it looks black.”

“Sure?”

“It's my truck I should know!

The questions went round and round again, a run of the same thing then a swift change trying to catch him out. Jack waited for the detective to turn up the heat a little it's what he would have done- heck *had* done.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The hands went back to the file and brought out another photo, but this time it wasn't the smiling school portrait. The girl's face was badly bruised, the hair disheveled and her eyes stared back dully.

“Meet Jessica Owens, 12 years old, picked up outside Colorado Springs High, and persuaded into a dark green or black Ford with some sob story about her mother. Taken for a meal, drugged, and driven out to a remote house or cabin where she was subjected to a serious assault. Later she was returned to the city and dumped on a street corner. It was very cold in January I'm sure you can imagine.”

The detective's eyes bore into Jack's face as he flinched from the painful photo and mental image the words had produced.

“Does any of that ring any bells for you Colonel?”

“No.”

The hands brought out another picture, another girl battered bruised and damaged.

“Meet Alannah Crosby, 12 years old taken from the bus stop around the corner from Colorado Springs Junior. Sob story, dinner, the cabin, assaulted and dumped on the other side of town. Do you remember this one in March?”

“No!” his head pounded with the awful images, the strain of his face bruising and swelling up as he sat there, and he couldn't breathe through his nose, his wrist ached.

“Wait! I remember seeing a headline about looking for links between two girls and a school, but nothing more than that. I can't remember when that was- ages ago. Look, I'm away a lot. I have a house in town but I also spend most of my time on the base. I don't get to see or read local papers.”

“Interesting.” replied the detective and he slid the last photo across the desk.

“Meet Nancy Sparkane, 13, this time taken from Harrison , same story apart from this time she woke up before he could dump her. They got into a fight she managed to scratch him badly.”

“Good.”

“Yes well, it's been over three weeks so that could be a long shot. However as a precaution Forensics are going to come in and take those samples we talked about, take some pictures and look you over.”

“What!” Jack shouted. Can they do this? he wondered.

“Relax- just your head and upper body Colonel. Nothing to worry about- right?”

“We can always sort out a witness line up and ...other…samples later if necessary Colonel.”

*Jeez,* Jack flinched mentally from * that* little scenario.

There was a knock at the door.

The detective went over to the door and waved a middle aged man carrying a big case and camera in. As he stood at the door, another detective came up waving a piece of paper.

“Look what just came in!” Langley read it and peered back into the room at Jack.

“You've got to be kidding me. Are you sure about this?” he said.

“It's being confirmed right now. What are you going to do?” asked the detective in the corridor.

“I'm almost done here” Langley gestured back at O'Neill.

“Right.”

“Let me know the minute that other information comes back will you?” said Langley .

“I've gotta tell you there's all hell breaking loose at the front desk. Big brass in big boots. You might not get very long.”

“Really? Well they'll just have to wait their turn.” and he shut the door again.

Langley studied the Colonel as the CSI guy checked him out.

His gut was telling him that this wasn't their man. The MO was off for a start, unless he'd changed tactics.

However the profile seemed to indicate that their man had found a pattern that worked very well for him ... unless the last ‘incident' had scared him.

The cabin was too far away to be probable, unless he was lying. He was still waiting for the background checks on that one.

What they really needed was body evidence.

The Forensic technician took photos of Jack's busted nose, and the knot on his head.

“These are definitely new abrasions, nothing underneath them. Is the police doctor on duty- has he been checked out?” The technician asked the detective.

“Not yet, he's on his way.” Langley reminded them.

Jack could feel gloved hands checking his face and head then move to his neck. He had a feeling the police doctor was never going to be ‘on his way'.

“There's something at the back here though- quite big, looks tender and recent.” noted the Tech guy, causing Langley to come over and look.

“Can you remove your sweater and shirt for me so I can get a better look at your neck?” he asked Jack, both of them missing the flash of disappointment on Langley 's face.

Damn he must mean the snake scar, how do I explain that? thought Jack.

“Remove your sweater and shirt please, and then place your hands flat on the table so I can get clear shots of both sides.” requested the technician.

“ You're gonna have to give me a hand here.” said Jack as he lifted up his supported wrist to show the detective and Tech guy who then looked it over.

“I can't do much with that except rig a sling or something, needs an x- ray.”

He still took pictures of Jacks hands as well as he and Jack were able, and then helped him remove the sweater; Jack managed to undo the shirt. The Technician pulled the shirt apart and off his shoulders. Jack's dog tags lay warm on his chest.

“Wow.” said the tech guy “ that's quite a collection you have there.” as he surveyed the lean muscled torso with its mementos of service in the line of duty.

Jack tuned the guy out as he took his photos. He hated this part. * Really * hated it. He struggled not to react, not to get up and go, not to smash the camera . He didn't like to be a side show. It didn't help that he'd been through this a few times in the service - but not for a while; probably Iraq was the worst time, but not the last. The Doc complained that his file was three times the size of any patient she'd had before and almost half of it was documentary photos that scared even her sometimes.

“Colonel?” said the detective- pulling Jack back into the present.

“Huh?”

“DNA mouth swab, that neck wound, and blood sample.”

Damn when this was over they were going to have to get his samples back before they ran them through the lab. Unidentified thingies in his blood work would get the lab or CDC too interested. Maybe Doctor Fraiser could hijack them? Jack wondered .

“Whatever.” said Jack * can't this just be over? Surely the General was on his way?*

The Technician did his stuff, gingerly cleaned his face up with some wipes and then left after helping to button up Jacks shirt. He offered to rig a temporary sling with his sweater but Jack refused and he put it back on- it wouldn't be long now he hoped.

* The cavalry should be saddled up and ready to leave by now *

“So how'd you get that injury on the back of your neck?” Langley was circling for the kill...just in case he was wrong.

“I got bitten while I was…away a few days ago, it got infected and there we are. Scar tissue, the damn thing itches like hell.” explained Jack knowing that it wasn't doing him any favors, but it was the truth. Why make something up?

“Okay. Now where were we? Oh yes. Are you married Colonel?” continued Langley still trying to get information, a link, and a clue- something.

“ Look- I'm sure you have all my details right *there* on that sheet, you know all this!”

“I need to hear it from you. Answer please, Colonel.”

“Divorced.” * crap, Jack could see where he was going to go with this line *

“She divorce you or the other way around?”

Jack sighed.

“She left me, we'd drifted apart. I got called up; when I got back she was gone, papers on the table.”

“Any kids? You said you liked children.”

Jack closed his eyes tight for a second then opened them to stare at the detective.

“We had a son. He died. We broke up. We divorced- end of story.”

“Uh huh, how old was your son Colonel?”

“10 almost 11”

“You still see your wife?”

“Ex- wife- sometimes. It was bad for a while, but it's sort of okay now.”

“What happened to your son?”

Jack let out a deep breath and stared at his colorful wrist in his lap.

“Colonel? Answer the question please.”

“He shot himself with my gun, at home.” he said quietly. The detectives head jerked up.

“That's why you divorced?”

“Pretty much. She forgave me but couldn't forget. As for me- I could never forgive myself but sometimes I can forget.” as he said the words he remembered saying something very similar to Daniel right after they'd got back from the second Abydos trip. Jack had collected the homeless stray and given him a beer at his house.

“Uh huh, so you know this Doctor Fraiser well?”

“She's the Chief Medical Officer at the base.”

“Do you like her?”

“Yes, when she isn't sticking me with needles. She's very good at her job.”

“I saw her in the interview room. She's an attractive lady.”

“I'm divorced, not dead.”

“So, you two ever go out on a date?”

“No.”

“Didn't ask her out and get rebuffed?”

“No.”

“Maybe you couldn't take no for an answer, and decide to get your own back in some sick way?”

“No!” snapped Jack.

“You said you were hurt a few months ago.”

“Correct.”

“Spent much time in the sick bay other than that?”

“On and off, routine physicals that sort of thing.”

“So you'd know where, for example, drugs would be kept?”

“I know where the locker is, but I don't know what's in there.”

“Okay.”

There was a knock on the door, Langley went to answer it. Jack couldn't hear the heated whispering between the two detectives.

“I'm almost through here. I'll be up there in a minute. Don't talk to him without me okay?” he heard Langley say before he shut the door again and faced Jack.

“ I think we're done for now.” said the detective. He ended the session on the tape, took it out, wrote on it and placed it in a plastic bag. He gathered it up with his folder and printouts.

“You mean I can go?” * Hallelujah *

“We're still waiting for confirmation of what you've told us. I'll have to put you in the pen, and we can take it from there.”

“Not going home then?” confirmed Jack *at least he wasn't going in some small cell on his own *

“No, not just yet.”

“You don't think I did this do you? Are you going to charge me with anything?” stated Jack

“I'm not going to comment. We are pursuing all lines of enquiry. Let's go sir.” and he led Jack back out of the room along a corridor and down a flight of stairs to a caged room where several other people were already inside. A uniformed officer came up and opened the door and pushed Jack in, as the detective went to fill in some paperwork at a nearby desk.

Jack looked round at his temporary home, a bench on two sides. One end was occupied -an old man with long beard was wedged in the corner and snored loudly.

Come on, George where are you? Jack wondered.

He sat on the end of a bench. He leaned back against the wall, staring back out at the exit door. Back to playing the waiting game.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
The two other occupants in the pen looked at Jack, he stared back. He could not believe this - it felt like some cheesy TV adventure series. Damn, he had no duct tape handy, although he might have a stick of gum somewhere…

* the cavalry has obviously stopped off to completely re-shoe themselves* he thought to himself.

“What'cha in for?”

A young man in his mid twenties, jeans slung low on bony hips, black T shirt with faded lettering claiming ‘it wasn't me, the aliens made me do it!' appeared in front of him. He was shuffling his feet, nervously swinging his arms. The third man, closest to the old man asleep on the bench, turned his cap round and leaned against the wall to watch Jack and the youngster.

“Excuse me?” said Jack distractedly

“The cops do that to you? That's brutal man.”

“No, someone else.”

“So what you in for?” repeated the skinny guy.

“Helping with enquiries.”

They could hear police officers talking in the corridor.

“You hear the news? They're bringing some guy in for those attacks on the girls in town.”

“Where'd ya hear that?”

“Upstairs- the cops are rushing around like crazy.”

“We got a new one in the pen I see- that him?”

“Maybe. Time flies down here when you're having fun.

The awake occupants of the cell turned to look again at Jack.

“They talking about you?” asked the twitchy young man

“No.”

“Well they were looking for some one like you I seem to remember.” said the man. His grimy face peered at Jack intently.

“Well, maybe they got the *wrong* guy. How about you?”

“Nothin'. I'm waiting for them to let me go. I didn't do anything either. Any minute now. You'll see.” His eyes skittered across the pen to the locked gate.

“Right. I'm waiting to go too.”

“Don't distract me. Don't talk to me like I'm nothing. I see how you look at me.”

" Alright- just calm down then.”

“Don't talk to me like that- you pervert.”

“What did you just call me?”

They were both yelling now. This awoke the old man. Startled he slid off the bench. The guy in the cap went to help him up, Jack glanced over as well. The young man who was needling him was hyper alert and saw his chance with Jack.

Suddenly strong wiry hands were around Jack's throat, shoving him back against the wall. His head thudded hard, hitting the already tender spot from earlier. Black dots danced in front of his eyes.

Using his right hand he punched at the man, but the grip only lessened slightly. His hand moved to the one around his throat and tried to pry it off, he kicked but the youngster had superhuman strength. In the tussle Jack toppled sideways onto the bench.

He couldn't breathe – it felt like his throat was being crushed - it was all going black. The pressure suddenly went, and he struggled to breathe. * can't blow the bugle to tell the cavalry where I am * he thought.

Shouting was heard in the background, one voice sounded familiar

“Get this door open now! Get an ambulance.”

“That's not nice, people tell me off, so I'm going to make things right. Yeah, get it right- they think I'm nothing. Gonna do something right.”

Jack dimly heard the man rambling on and on. Suddenly hands grabbed his head and hit it against the bench. Agony spiked through his abused skull. He lay there, gasping.

Then hands pressed over his mouth and throat. He struggled to breathe again, his heart hammering away, chest heaving, wrist pulsing with pain, head exploding with effort as he tried again to push the person away. The cell door clanged open. He fell to the floor as his assailant was dragged off. He lay there listening to the scuffling and shouting carried on as the man was taken away.

Polished shoes stopped and knelt down and a familiar blue uniform reached out to him

“Colonel? Quickly Doctor Frasier, he can't breathe!”

“Colonel? Stay with me here. Colonel? Where's that ambulance?” said another voice.

He slid off into the waiting dark.

 

Awareness stole upon Jack slowly and he drifted with it, not wondering where he was or anything. He just…was. He went back to sleep.

The next time he surfaced he could make out beeping noises and sensed he was lying on a bed. Trying to concentrate on things made his head hurt badly. He swallowed, and realized that there was something in his throat. He struggled to move and breathe, his hands wildly grabbing for his throat. One hand didn't seem to grip very well.

Now other hands were stopping him, alarms shrilled in the background as he weakly tried to fight them off.

“Jack! It's okay, you're alright, and we're fine.”

“Colonel! Calm down that tube in your throat is helping you to breathe. It's staying in. I'm sorry I'm going to have to sedate you for a little bit.”

Gradually he drifted off again, confused and tired.

>>

Daniel and Dr Fraiser looked at each other as O'Neill relaxed into sleep again. Dr Fraiser hadn't expected him to come round quite so soon. Given what had happened in the police station and on Hathor's planet she'd expected him to come out fighting even if he didn't already react badly to the ventilator in his throat. Daniel was here because it was his turn for Jack watching duty.

Daniel watched his friend, he looked like he'd gone a few rounds with an unfriendly Jaffa - punched out, busted wrist, head bounced and throttled. Battered and bruised certainly covered it.

“I'd better inform the General of the latest news.” said Janet briskly, going to a phone.

“I'll be right here.” said Daniel sitting down again in the hard plastic chair next to the Colonel's bed in the ICU room at the base Infirmary.

Janet Fraiser returned bringing a coffee for Daniel.

“Thanks Janet.” and he gratefully stretched his aching leg out in front of him (his own souvenir from Hathor's planet). “You know I still can't believe it. Only Jack can escape writing reports for the afternoon only to end up being almost killed in a police station a couple of minutes before he was due to be released!” said Daniel shaking his head.

“I know. It was a bit unreal. Cass is upset and angry for Jack. He was just taking a little time out! The General and I are glad that we were able to save him at the police station.” replied Janet .

“But he'll be alright won't he? I mean the bump on the head and the not breathing bit?” asked Daniel staring again at Jack's strapped nose and the black eyes. His eyes followed the IV'ed right arm to the cast on his left wrist extending to just below the elbow.

“Oh yes; the MRI and CT scans didn't show any obvious intracranial bleeds. Lucky for the Colonel that I hung around at the police station, otherwise things might be different.” She reassured him as she remembered arriving at the cell door.

The General had had the foresight to retrieve her medical bag from her car at the ice rink. She had needed it- Jack wasn't breathing by the time she got to him on the floor of the pen. Having a partially crushed larynx was not good, in combination with the broken nose. And that was without a possible head trauma. She'd had to perform a hasty tracheotomy to get oxygen into his airway. The General had made sure that the Colonel was transferred to the Academy General Hospital as fast as possible- it being closer than the SGC.

Janet's emergency treatment meant he had some oxygen in his system. At the Hospital his saturation levels continued to drop and they had to intubate. After several hours' treatment in ICU, Jack had been stabilized, and he was transferred to the SGC infirmary. This was easier on personnel for security reasons.

The General stayed at the police station to sort out the paperwork and situation once and for all, while Dr Fraiser had gone with the Colonel to the Hospital. Several hours later everything had quieted down, and the General had confirmation that Jack was in no immediate danger. The next step was to bring him to the base Infirmary, and it was at this point he gathered the rest of SG1 to inform them of the situation.

Naturally they'd all been shocked at what had happened at the station let alone the fact that he'd been brought in for routine questioning on such a distressing case.

Now they all waited for him to recover and come round from the beating he'd taken. One thing that might make him feel better would be the news that the man he'd almost been accused of being had been brought in by police later the same day in a strange twist of fate.

Jack O'Neill was a very private man. He kept his hurts and pain hidden deep inside. Jack was adept at presenting the ‘dumb' wise ass Colonel act most of the time. It deflected people from knowing the real Jack O'Neill, who had more layers than an onion . Yes, he could be a cold killer, a touch paranoid and cynical, but no one you'd want more in tight spot on an alien planet or Earth.

But with children, he was different. He would do silly things to amuse them, teach them games, he'd break the rules for them. He knew he couldn't fool them. Kids seemed to know that Jack was an adult they could trust without hesitation. There was nothing he wouldn't do for them if he could. This whole incident would be painful for Jack in more ways than one. No one did guilt and suffering like Jack O'Neill, just ask his ex wife or his ex Forces teams.

SG1, his Doctor and his CO wondered how they were all going to deal with this when Jack woke up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

General Hammond

As the General put the phone down, he let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. Doctor Fraiser had just told him that the Colonel had come round fighting, and she'd had to calm him down. He would just have to wait with everybody else for the next instalment when the Colonel woke up properly.

What a mess. He shook his head as he reached for the coffee and thought back to the last few days when it all started…

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The day had started well; Doctor Fraiser had cleared Colonel O'Neill for duty after overnight observation and the results from various tests. Dr Jackson was cleared for light duty following his leg injury on Hathor's planet. General Hammond spent the morning reviewing mission reports that had stacked up on his desk. His aide knew that he liked to read team reports together when possible so that he could get the whole picture.

Sometimes the General had to wait days for reports to come through due to illness or injury. And sometimes they were delayed because they hadn't been written yet. Certain people just * hated * writing them. Hammond could understand that. The SGC had the best military staff doing what they did best- defending the country and saving the planet from time to time. They were battle trained not pencil pushers, so he allowed a little latitude. Well, he had to really because it was his 2IC that was notoriously late with the written reports. It got left until he had to practically confine Colonel O'Neill to his office to finish them. His idea of filing was to put them in the trash bin.

He'd been horrified to learn from Dr Jackson and Major Carter that the Colonel had semi volunteered to become a host, the infant Goa'uld had also made its choice. That man really would sacrifice himself to save his team. How did he think he would get away with it? And as for being frozen twice, who knew what effect that might have on his body or what it felt like?

The main reason the Doctor had kept him in all afternoon and overnight was that he was too exhausted to sleep properly while his body was wracked with shivers. He'd lain there under piles of warmed blankets until his system sorted itself out.

So, once cleared from the infirmary, General Hammond did expect to see some sort of report by the end of the day so that he could then go home. The late morning was disturbed by SG 11's unscheduled return from a mining exploration. Torrential rain created a mudslide, which hit the camp, destroying equipment and injuring two marines. Doctor Fraiser stayed on to deal with the resulting injuries and decontamination procedures. All was fine until one of the team suddenly collapsed and was rushed into surgery.

Afternoon came and went and neither O'Neill's report nor the man himself appeared. Mildly annoyed, Hammond had rung his office- no reply. He tried the infirmary just in case there was a problem. The Colonel always said he was ‘fine' right up to the point where he would then keel over.

That's when he'd found out that O'Neill had left the base a few hours earlier to pick Cassie up while the Doctor was busy dealing with SG11. He had expected to see him back on the base. Then Doctor Fraiser had rung him to say that the Colonel had been arrested and that she'd keep him posted on the situation. Only O'Neill could do this to me, Hammond thought with a tight smile.

Just how much trouble could he get into while he had Cassie with him? he wondered.

He asked his aide to get the number for the police station and after a bit of a run around got to the Captain of the Special Crimes squad.

“This is General Hammond at Cheyenne Mountain base. I believe you have one of my officers, brought in for questioning. A Colonel Jack O'Neill. I am his commanding officer, what details can you give me to help clear this up?”

“All that I can say at the moment is that we are pursuing a possible line of enquiry following recent attacks on young female students over the last 6 months. We were alerted by a member of the public. Uniforms were dispatched to the scene...” said the voice at the end of the phone.

“Scene what scene? It was an ice rink!”

“General Hammond, we are running background checks as we speak. He's been taken for questioning. I don't know the outcome of that yet. But since we are having this conversation perhaps you can confirm some details and dates with me?”

“Give me what you got.”

“Check where your man was on 3 rd January, 25 th March this year and a couple of weeks ago- 4 th May. If you have anything you'd like to tell me now about your officer that might speed things up, please do so.”

“I'll check the dates our end. And as for Colonel O'Neill, he is a highly decorated officer. I trust him with my own grandchildren for goodness sake.”

“Like I said we are pursuing all lines of enquiry. You know how it is with these things; in fact we have another suspect being brought in right now. So you see...”

“I do see. I'll be there shortly with what we have.”

“You do that.” and the conversation was over.

Hammond sprung into action calling for duty roster records, infirmary records and Jack's file, to get documentary evidence that Jack was elsewhere on those dates.

He recognized the January one of course; Jack hated having to ‘schmooze' as he called it, in Washington . But once the Colonel had got his grumbles out of the way, they had a good trip. The uninterrupted travelling time was spent sorting out SGC matters. They made an efficient team. In relaxed moments, the General would tell his 2IC what his grandchildren had been up to recently and when was he coming over again? The Colonel would respond with less than stellar episodes from SG teams, when things got a bit too hot, or wet and muddy, and the fun that could ensue when both natives and SG teams got completely the wrong end of the stick. But it was not done in a malicious way; after all nobody was perfect, SG1 and other teams had made it through in the end.

The General knew the latest date on the list, 4 th May, was while SG1 were on Hathor's planet. He just had to confirm the March one to make his point and then he would present the paperwork himself. The General made a few more phone calls. He needed more information on the attacks, so he knew exactly what was going on.

He toyed with telling the rest of SG1, but decided that for the moment ‘less was more'. He was a General after all. This time Mohammed would go to the police station and end this.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

General Hammond wanted his second in command to wake up so he could tell him that everything was alright, that nothing had changed between any of them.

But he knew in his heart of hearts that word would leak out soon enough, that Colonel O'Neill had at least been questioned and that something had happened at the police station. The fact that the perpetrator had been caught on the same day with incriminating evidence in his car would not remove the tarnish some people would see on Colonel O'Neill's character.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Many hours later when Jack surfaced again and got his eyes to open, he felt better. A glance to the side told him no one was babysitting him. He lay for a moment assessing the situation. Did that mean that no one wanted to be near him or had he just missed them? He knew from the grey walls that he was in the SGC Infirmary.

The tube had gone from his throat, and there were no beeping machines either. He lifted his head to look for some water for his painful throat, and wished he hadn't. The heaviness in his head doubled. Pushing the discomfort away he levered himself up, reaching for the bed locker.

“Colonel, just what do you think you are doing?” a stern Dr Frasier appeared seemingly out of no where.

Busted…

How did she know? he wondered. Damn, a few more minutes and he might even have found his clothes and got out unnoticed…

“Water” he said, or at least that's what he thought he'd said, what actually came out was a dry croak.

Dr Fraiser passed him the water “Slowly Colonel” she admonished and watched him carefully, before putting the beaker back.

“Where?” he croaked

“Where's everyone?” she guessed.

He nodded

“It's the wee hours of the morning. I sent Daniel to rest some time ago. Teal'c and Sam have been here but you were still asleep”

“Cassie!”

“She's okay. She'd like to see you later, after school.”

“Home?”

“Not now! Maybe tomorrow”

“Doc…”

“Don't ‘doc' me.”

“I'm okay?”

“Yes. Your throat will take a little while to heal, anti inflammatory and painkillers will help. Your nose is bruised and you have two lovely black eyes.”

He raised his cast forearm and wrist

“A clean fracture, nothing to worry about. A few weeks in the cast then some physio.”

He pointed to his head, the moment making him wince briefly.

“Are you okay sir?”

“Head's still attached.” he rasped

“Colonel!” said Janet exasperated and amused at the same time- a typical O'Neill reaction.

“You're still not going home today.”

He huffed lightly in response.

“We are keeping an eye on the head trauma because you were knocked out twice.”

“Been there, got the t shirt.” he said tiredly.

“Which bit or all of it?”

“All.”

He was right, Dr Frasier thought, mentally reviewing his file.

“Well, but this is different...” she began and wished she hadn't as his face tensed fractionally then set.

“What's done is done! Don't make it into anything more than it already is!” he rasped angrily.

He shifted in the bed. Leaning back slightly and closing his eyes again. Janet looked at him; he looked uncomfortable like that, half sitting on the pillows.

When she lightly touched his shoulder, his eyes flew open again and his arms jerked up,

“Sorry Colonel but I need to check...” and she produced the penlight.

He nodded.

“Let's get you a bit more comfortable. Lean forward, Sir.” he did so, slightly unbalanced, his cast wrist flailing about wildly.

Janet quickly brought her left arm up to support the Colonel, noting that his body tensed against hers as she tugged at the pillows behind him.

Sorted, comfy and more awake he reached for the water again, savouring the cool water as it slipped down his painful throat.

“I'll go get a pad and a pencil for you. I don't want you to speak too much just yet. Give that throat a chance to rest and heal. Actually that goes for the rest of you too, Colonel!” advised Dr Fraiser.

He stared at her.

“I'm on duty until 0600, I'll leave a report for General Hammond. He wanted to see you as soon as I said you were able.”

~~~~~~~~

When Dr Fraiser came back on duty later that evening and read the nurses reports on the Colonel, she saw that General Hammond had indeed visited for some time. Oh to be a fly on the wall for that conversation… The rest of SG1 had visited briefly on and off. That was good; at least he seemed to be interacting with everybody.

The Colonel appeared to be a model patient. There were references in the notes to him being “asleep” or “quiet”. Hmmm, she thought.

She spoke to the nurses. No, he hadn't shouted, moaned or even *whined* at any of them, not even about the gloopy lunch he'd been prescribed and apparently eaten. Oh dear, she thought, this could be bad. Well, he was probably going home tomorrow, so maybe he's just biding his time.

But she did not feel reassured.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Dr Fraiser went in to see him, he seemed to be asleep in his unusually neat bed, his hurt wrist cradled against his body. But as soon as she came close his eyes snapped open.

“Doc.” he said.

“I'm just going to bring dinner in.”

He made a face as Janet brought it in and set it on the bed tray and swung it over him. Jack turned over and began to sit up. But the moment he smelled the food, he gulped hard and paled. He pushed the tray away. She didn't know if he did it deliberately with his busted wrist to divert nausea to pain.

“Colonel, have you been taking the pain meds?”

He shook his head and winced, briefly touching his forehead with his fingers.

“On a scale of 1 to 10, “she said patiently “How bad is it, any blurriness?”

Jack looked everywhere around the room before settling back on her face. He lifted his right hand, spreading all 5 digits.

Oh, that's an 8 on anyone else, she cursed to herself.

Her nurses hadn't reported any actual nausea. But he was clearly in discomfort and it *could* be related to the head injury.

“Okay we'll do another CT scan just to check there's nothing going on inside that head of yours. We can compare it with the others.”

Jack nodded and shrugged his shoulders. Janet left to go and organise that. There was something she was missing; she was sure, but what?

A short time later he'd been taken in a wheel chair down to the Scanning room. Janet helped him onto the sliding bed, and waited for him to settle down before moving the bed into the machine.

Jack was so tired but he didn't want to sleep. So he hadn't. He'd fooled them. He hurt which meant it was all too real- it *had * happened. He'd let his guard down, twice, dammit. He didn't deserve to be a Colonel; it was a rookie's mistake for cryin out loud…

The bed slid into the machine.

“Stay still, Colonel.” came the Doc's voice over the intercom as she stood next to the CT operator in the next room.

So Jack closed his eyes and stayed still. He'd had plenty of practice lately. He could soon be back at his own house. Safe, be himself.

On the other side of the window Janet Fraiser was pleased the Colonel seemed to be obeying her, usually he hated this thing when he was awake…

Suddenly Jack began to get flashes of being lowered into the cryo chamber, people were peering down at him; an unexpected blow to the face…not being able to breathe, darkness…

In real time his hand and fingers twitched, he began to move restlessly.

Janet saw his hand twitch, the only movement she'd seen him make.

“Almost done Colonel,” she said hoping to keep him there until the machine finished.

His legs moved. Hang on Colonel… she prayed.

“Finished.” she signalled and rushed into the room, as the assistant behind her gathered the data.

The bed slid maddeningly slowly out of the machine. She could hear him saying “no, no, no”

As soon as the bed was free, he turned to the side to get off. He sat there, head down, one hand gripping the edge of the bed hard, tense as a board. She reached out to reassure him.

He shook his head at her “don't touch me” he looked at her with dark eyes that saw right through her.

They were both distracted for a second as the CT operator said the results were up.

Jack blinked at Dr Fraiser. She waited for him to come back; they'd done this dance before.

Another moment and he drew a shaky breath, and began to slide off the bed. He wanted out. NOW. He was pale and sweating again, his eyes looking for something.

Oh, oh she thought, where's a bin?

Before she could ask the CT operator, he bent over and threw up messily on the floor. He slowly sank onto his knees, propped up on his good arm, controlled by the heaves his body made. Janet knelt to support and soothe him and it seemed to her that for a few seconds his trembling body sagged, unboned against hers.

“It's okay, Colonel, I've got you.” His cast wrist clunked against her as he automatically tried to hold her arm.

“Sorry.” he muttered.

“Done?” Janet asked.

He nodded, and spat out again. It must have been unpleasant, and painful, with a damaged throat and sore ribs. Janet was relieved when the CT operator came back with a bottle of water and some cloths for Jack.

O'Neill turned over and scooted to rest his back against the wall. Janet passed him the water and cloths to take away the acrid taste and wipe his mouth.

Dr Fraiser let him have a few moments to himself as she went and reviewed the results with the operator.

Jack got up as she came back in and retrieved the wheelchair.

“What's the verdict?” he asked as he got in.

“The results look good Colonel. I don't see any problems. I think perhaps this is just the after effects of the concussion and stress you're under at the moment.”

“hmmmpf”

“You can go home tomorrow as long as you get some quality sleep tonight and eat dinner and breakfast. No palming it off on Daniel or the disposal bins. You hear me?”

“Yes Doctor.” how did she know about the food? he wondered .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Whether it was the relief of knowing he was okay, Dr Fraiser didn't know, but once back in his room he settled down and immediately fell asleep. This only confirmed her suspicions that he hadn't really slept properly since regaining consciousness. But then that was normal for someone with head injuries. Returning a short time later with a fresh water jug, she noticed he'd moved and even now his fingers twitched.

That's when she realised what had been ‘off' about him before. He'd been *so* good and quiet. He'd fooled them into thinking he was asleep, but he'd been still. Not restless. Even now, he'd tugged at some of the bed covers. No wonder he'd had a reaction. It wasn't good holding in all that tension and anxiety.

Unfortunately it wasn't the first time he'd had flashbacks in the infirmary. It was an unspoken bond between the Colonel and the Doctor. She knew more about his demons than his ex wife and SG1 did, and the Colonel knew that she knew. It was all about trust.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Dr Fraiser went back to her office to re check the scans and update the Colonel's file. Then she had to update the General, again. A knock on her door disrupted her thoughts.

“Janet can I have a word?” it was Major Carter looking worried.

“Sure, pull up a chair.”

“I popped down to see if the Colonel wanted anything, but the nurse said he wasn't to be disturbed. Is everything alright?”

“Yes, he just needs some rest.”

“Ah.” said Sam knowingly.

Janet raised her eyebrows at her friend, but neither of them could discuss the fact that Jack's demons sometimes made him sleepless off world too.

“So, he's still scheduled to go home tomorrow?”

“As long as he actually eats food between now and then.” commented Janet dryly.

“Oh?” queried Sam, then realisation dawned “Daniel.”

“Quite. It didn't help matters.”

“But you're sending him home anyway?” asked Sam

“He's not really hurt that bad, I can't keep him in for much longer. He'll heal physically. He just a bit battered.”

“To say the least.” said Sam. “This whole thing… it's distressing. To even think that someone would think… that the Colonel could…” and she broke off leaving Janet to fill in the blanks.

“Let's not dwell on that. We've weathered storms before. This will pass,” replied Janet firmly. “He won't thank us for tiptoeing around him either.”

“I guess he'll cope like he always does. All we can do is be there when he does want us.” said Sam.

“Can't do anymore.” agreed Janet.

“It's been difficult trying to stop Teal'c from storming down to the police station.” began Carter with a slight laugh.

“If it weren't for the General, I suspect we'd all be down there.” finished Janet.

“Janet, how's Cassie with all of this?” asked Sam

“She's…ok. I made her carry on at school as usual. In fact I have to go pick her up- the chess club finishes in half an hour. Then she can see the Colonel.”

“I'm sure he'll be glad to see her.”

“Not as much as she is, to see him!” replied Janet.

>>>>>>>>>>>

Cassie opened the door to Jack's room and peered in to see if he was awake yet. She went in and sat on the chair, putting her school bag on the floor. Although her mom had warned her about his bruises and the black eyes, she found the true glory of them appalling. She put her small hand over the tanned long fingers of his sound hand, and whispered

“I'm so sorry Jack.”

Jack cleared his throat and turned towards her, blinking sleepily at her.

“Cass?”

“Jack! I'm *so* glad to see you!”

“Me too.” He croaked. Cassie passed him some water, as he sat up.

“God, you sound awful. What did that guy do to you? Are you going to be okay?” she blurted.

“I'm fine. I've done worse than this playing a game of hockey.”

“No it's not fine! How could they question you like that! I know those students meant well, but... If I hadn't called you to come and pick me up, none of this would have happened.” Cassie blurted, getting upset.

“Hey, none of that! Come here.” he said softly.

Cassie sat on the bed, her legs stretched out in front of her, Jack's arm round her shoulder as she leaned against him. Jack was glad she still felt okay about him. Cassie hadn't figured out yet, how he dealt with all the weirdness life threw at him.

“One, I don't want you to *ever* worry about calling any one of us to come and get you, no matter what time it is or where you are, okay? I mean it. You know we never leave anyone behind.” Jack began.

“Yes.”

“We were having an afternoon out, ice skating and we will again. Don't let this spoil it.”

“Two, we could go on all day about ‘ifs' ‘ands' and ‘buts'. The most important thing is, from what the General told me this morning, that the police are pretty sure that they have the right man. He will go away for a long time. He won't hurt anyone else and he won't hurt you. Do not worry about him. Okay?”

“Okay.” agreed Cassie, and refilled his glass of water before he continued.

“Three, I was not the only person brought in for questioning, helping with enquiries during their investigation.”

“But, getting beat up like this, why does it always have to happen to you?” asked Cassie.

“The kid at the ice rink *was* out of line. It's a fine line between caring and vigilantism. But the guy in the cell, well, he was a time bomb waiting to go off. I just happened to be standing next to him at the time.” ‘That and beaming down to the planet wearing a red shirt.' thought Jack idly.

“Four?” Cassie prompted, waiting for Jack to carry on.

“There is no four…” replied Jack.

“The police asked me all sorts of questions, Jack. I didn't like it even though mom was there.” said Cassie suddenly.

“I'm sorry, you had to go through that, I truly am.” said Jack sadly.

“I mean it's not as if I don't know about some ‘stuff'. Mom warned me and school's good about advising students to take care of themselves…”

“I'm glad to hear it”

“And, you guys help a lot too. Sparring with Sam, self defence classes with you. I've been very lucky since I lost my real family. It's unfair that you should be repaid like this. They ask you all kinds of questions too, Jack?” said Cassie hesitantly.

“They did.” A small statement covering a big story….

“Guess you didn't like them, any more than I did.” Cassie said. Perhaps they could work things out together. She would never lose her trust in the Colonel, but Jack was less forgiving of himself.

“They were doing their job.”

Another bald statement. Cassie could tell by the way Jack said it, that he was unhappy about it. It had been bad.

“But…” she began, as Jack smiled and said

“But me no butts!”

Cassie couldn't help but laugh.

The look he gave her said ‘are we done here, for now? All okay?' and she nodded.

There was a light knock on the door, and Dr Frasier's head appeared.

“Is it okay to come in? I thought perhaps it was time the Colonel had some food. And no, before you say anything it's not the same as before.” she said quickly seeing the look on O'Neill's face.

Janet thought chicken would work this time round. And having Cassie here would ensure he ate it. Cassie had strict instructions…

Jack paused, looked down at Cassie and said “Bring it on, Doc”

Janet smiled “Good.”, and as she left the room she heard Cassie ask

“Jack, I was wondering if you'd read this book we're doing in English class…”

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.

It was late morning, the next day, by the time Dr Jackson drove Jack back to his house. He followed with the medications and diet list Jack always ‘forgot' to pick up from the infirmary. Jack was still in some discomfort.

Daniel hovered in the kitchen, watching as Jack went through to sit on the couch, awkwardly flipping through several days' mail.

“I'm fine Daniel. Thanks for the lift.” Jack said looking up.

“Sure Jack? I can stay if you want company or me to open things for you.”

“I'm done talking for the moment. And this,” he said lifting his cast “is nothing, okay. I can manage. Plenty of practice.”

Daniel knew better than to push any more. “Okay, I'll see you later, then.”

“Yeah, bye.” and Jack sat and waited for Daniel to leave, listened for the car to drive away, before putting the mail down. He let out a deep breath.

First things first, he thought, gathering supplies from the kitchen he went upstairs to his bedroom. He removed his socks and shoes before going into the bathroom to turn on the shower. Jack needed to wash the last few days off his skin. He got the rest of his clothes off without too much bother. Painful twinges from the wrist when he inadvertently pressed or tried to pull. He put a plastic bag over the cast and struggled with an elastic band.

The shower felt good, washing away some of the aches and pains and the grubbiness of being stuck in bed for a while. Jack stuck his busted wrist out of the shower as he managed to wash one handed. There was no one to see how ridiculous *that* looked, but him, and he didn't care.

His face and neck were still sore so he didn't bother to shave.

It took him a while to dry off properly, but he managed. Jack riffled through his wardrobes for non zip or button pants, and shirts that would go over the cast. He was sure he had some slip on shoes somewhere or Velcro ones. Tying shoelaces on his beloved boots was out for the moment.

Jack pottered about the house, unable to sit still for long. At lunchtime he incinerated some more soup, and took his meds like a good little Colonel for once.

He wasn't in the mood to watch ‘The Simpsons', so he looked through the TV listings. Ah, this looked promising, a John Wayne double bill. He settled on the couch, put his feet up and watched ‘The Searchers'. He wasn't sure if Teal'c had seen this one. There was much more here than just a Western. Several themes resonated, the long search for a member of a family, tracking hostiles through unknown territory, a rookie on the team learning and growing…

The afternoon stretched into early evening and he fell asleep during ‘The Man who shot Liberty Valance”.

A loud knock on the door, startled him awake. Jack rubbed a hand gently across his stubbly face as he went to open it. ‘I said I was fine Daniel' Jack murmured to himself.

He opened the door. The man on the porch turned around. Medium - tall, light brown hair and a cautious smile.

“Colonel O'Neill? Detective Langley .” the man introduced himself.

“I know who you are.” replied Jack curtly, peering behind him to see if he'd brought anyone else.

“Can I come in for a minute?”

“That depends on what you've come to say.” said Jack, not budging.

“I just wanted to give you an explanation and fill you in on a few things.”

“Then I guess you can come in.” Jack stepped back so, the detective could come in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
“Nice place.” commented Langley as he made his way to the sitting area, Jack followed and turned the TV off.

“What do you want? I'm not going to sue the department if you're worried,” stated Jack

“I didn't come here for that. I came to check up on you.” replied the detective.

Langley assessed Jack as he stood there in grey sweat pants, grey Air Force t -shirt with a check shirt over the top, one sleeve unbuttoned over the cast. His arm held diagonally across his chest elevating the broken wrist. The detective thought that he looked alert enough under the stubble. Bruised face and black eyes not withstanding. The Colonel was on sick leave in his own home after all.

“I'm fine as you can see. Look, just say your piece and then go back to the real scumbags. I've got other things to do.” Jack replied irritably.

“Colonel O'Neill. I'm sure that you are well aware of the serious nature of the crimes here. Our team has been working on this for months! Tracking sightings and leads, all to no avail mostly; the guy would appear then disappear. We pulled in lots of people to help with enquiries.” Langley countered, annoyed his peaceful overtures had been brushed aside.

“Go on.”

“The kid at the ice rink, you couldn't know but one of the girls attacked was his cousin. Naturally he and his family are upset. Unfortunately he's also made himself a bit of a nuisance. You weren't the only person he's followed. We don't approve of vigilantism of course. He will be reprimanded, and you are within your rights to press charges if you want.”

“I don't think that's going to help him any. He thought he was doing the right thing. I know there are rules, but heck I might have done the same thing at his age, in the same circumstances. So if you're here apologising and the kid had his reasons, *tell me*, you got the right guy behind bars, like my CO General Hammond assured me.”

“We are confident that he's the man responsible for these attacks - here in this state.” confirmed the detective.

“God, you mean there were more kids…elsewhere?” said Jack horrified.

“There's a possibility. So we're checking the data bases and liaising with other states.”

“Do you have enough to make it stick?”

“I can tell you that there was significant material in his vehicle. It's still in the labs being processed. We are going to see if some of the victims feel able to come in for a line up.”

“That's very brave of them.”

“Yeah, we're hopeful. The cousin is one that really wants to put this behind her. To make sure that the right guy goes down for it.”

“It would be good to get something worthwhile out of the whole sorry mess.”

“Look, we were only following procedures and leads- paperwork. Your CO and Doctor made everything quite plain to the department exactly how they feel about your treatment. They have copies of the records and evidence.”

“Well we never leave anyone behind, detective. They were only looking out for me, I am sure you can understand that.”

“The investigating team had already completed preliminary enquiries, and from Cassandra Frasier's statement, you were in the clear. I did want you to be him for a while though.”

“I noticed that.”

“But certain things didn't add up, even before your CO came through with other evidence for you.”

“I'm glad to hear it.” said Jack thinking if only the detective knew some of the things he‘d done under Uncle Sam's orders.

Don't go there, Jack.

“So, how exactly did you bring this guy in? If you've been looking for him so long?” continued Jack.

“I'd love to tell you it was through brilliant deduction but it wasn't. He came back to the area. A patrol car saw his vehicle had a broken taillight. When the officers followed him to tell him about it or try and issue a ticket, he sped off. There was a chase and he wrapped his car round a lamp post.”

“Anybody hurt?”

“No. Luckily the car didn't explode or anything because the officers found interesting things in the trunk.”

“So why did he come back? It doesn't make any sense.”

“It does if you get too sure of your little schemes and you need the work which happens to take you to schools. We are still gathering statements.”

“I thought there were checks to stop this kind of predatory behaviour.”

“You're right, Colonel, there are. But people change names, slip through the cracks in the system.”

“That's true. Seen that happen myself.” Said Jack, thinking of personnel he'd had to dismiss at the SGC even after they'd made it though Basic and evaluation. He remembered how far Jonas Hanson had made it before totally losing it in the field.

“So you're really ok? I mean it looked pretty bad for a moment there.” asked Langley again.

“I'm fine. A few more days until the wrist settles down a bit and I can go back to desk duty.” assured Jack.

“Okay then.” The detective stared at Jack. Even battered and bruised there was something coiled behind the dark eyes. No way was this officer a desk jockey. He was used to being in charge, doing something. “If there's nothing we can do for you. I'll go.” Suddenly he wanted to be on his way.

Both men moved back up the steps to the front door.

“Just make sure this guy gets put away for a long time. I promised someone that would happen,” stated Jack. Poor Cassie, she hadn't been that scared since she thought Carter had a Goa'uld in her. Even then, she'd only talk to him, not the Doc.

Langley briefly wondered if O'Neill would *make* it happen if something went wrong with the DA's office or if there was some cock up along the line.

“We expect to” he said “Bye, Colonel O'Neill, and thanks for being so understanding.”

Jack opened the door and Langley stepped outside.

“Detective Langley .”

“Yes?”

“Don't take this the wrong way. But I hope I don't see you again. Just make sure the system doesn't screw up anymore.”

“Right,” said Langley , realising that Jack was talking about the whole investigation and not just the incident in the lock-up. Heads were going to roll.

O'Neill watched him walk down the path to his car and drive away.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Alone once more, Jack returned to the couch.

He was dealing with what had happened. He had talked to the General, the Doc, Cassie and his team. Jack's natural confidence had taken a knock and he felt both embarrassed and proud of the assurance and support they'd all shown him.

He was not going to think about other elements in the SGC, the NID or even Senator Kinsey that would want some of the mud to stick. The problem was he couldn't promise not to do anything ‘wrong' because going through the ‘Gate was so unpredictable. Sometimes doing the wrong thing was only way to work it out. But, Jack knew there were people just waiting for him to stick his head above the parapet once too often.

His head had begun to ache. He leaned back and closed his eyes, reviewing the conversation with Langley in his head.

Jack was very pleased that the police were confident of their suspect and their evidence. That this was unlikely to happen to him again anytime soon. Doing their job, routine enquiries…

His eyes snapped open, as he sat up. Dammit, they wouldn't have…? Would they?

He got up and went to the answer machine on the hall table. He had four messages.

Do or die O'Neill.

He pressed play.

As soon as he heard the voice, he had his answer.

Shit. They had.

 

“Jack, it's Sara. There was a police officer here a couple of hours ago, asking me really personal questions about you. What the hell's going on? You can't keep doing this to me Jack. Jack, are you there? You can't fob me off this time with some phoney science experiment! ”and then the phone was slammed down.

Well. That was just peachy.

Fate had conspired against him to trample like a herd of Jaffa all over the shaky bridges he'd rebuilt with Sara and her dad Mike. He'd hurt her. Again.

He saved her message but didn't listen to the others. No doubt it was more of the same. He deserved it after all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just when Jack thought he and Sara had reached some sort of equilibrium. He managed to louse it up. This was so not right.

He was innocent this time, unlike with Charlie. How he wished he'd checked that drawer. His coming home from work routine was distracted for a moment and it meant their life would never be the same again. So many ‘if only' and ‘what ifs.' Coulda woulda shoulda.

How to fix this though? Mike would not be happy. Her father wanted Sara to move on and make a final break with Jack so that she could maybe start a new life.

Jack agreed, sort of.

Sara deserved someone better. But it would cause him great pain if she did remarry. The bond of their son still lingered between them whether they liked it or not.

He'd crawled bloody and broken across a desert for her, and in return she'd managed to break through the wreckage that was him after the four months in prison hell. Neither of them could give up after what they'd been through.

Pain broke through Jack's tortured thoughts. His wrist was throbbing painfully, and when he looked down and he saw that his fists were clenched. Slowly he uncurled his fingers, breathless with anguish.

The answering machine sat there displaying a red 3- un played messages. Jack ignored them.

On autopilot, he went to the fridge looking for something to eat. Peering inside he noticed the bottles of beer sitting in the back. Dinner. Perfect.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Jack opened his eyes, and found himself staring at the stars. He knew this section of the night sky very well, so he knew it was around midnight . When had he come up to the viewing platform? What had roused him in the chilly silence?

Squeak. There it was again. He recognised it as Daniel's car door. Maybe if he kept quiet Daniel would go away.

Footsteps. Knock on the front door. Silence. The footsteps came around the side of the house.

“Jack, are you up there?” Daniel's voice. Scuffling noises meant he was coming up the ladder.

Damn. He didn't want to talk to Daniel.

Tomorrow maybe.

Now. No.

Daniel made it to the top, huffing with exertion. Jack ignored him, and drank some more beer.

“Jack what you doing up here? It's chilly.”

“I hadn't noticed.”

“Probably because you've had a few beers. You never notice the cold.”

Jack just looked at him. “So what? It's my house. What are you doing here?”

“If you listened to your messages you'd know,” said Daniel, slightly put out.

“Huh, one message was enough.”

“Well, I didn't think mine was that bad. I can't help it if others call to see if you're ok. You taught us that Jack. We're a team.”

“We were pretty great once,” said Jack softly in the darkness.

“What are you talking about? What do you mean once? You can't resign over this! I thought everything was okay!” Daniel's voice rose with indignation.

“Sara…”

“What? Oh…your wife?” realized Daniel, trying to work out what was going on in Jack's head.

“Ex wife. She said it after the blue crystal entity and …Charlie at the hospital.”

“We were pretty great together, weren't we?”

“We were the greatest”

“Take care of yourself Jack”

“Oh,” said Daniel again, he could see that Jack was upset. He waited.

“The police talked to her, routine enquiries.”

“They were quick off the mark.”

“Yeah, weren't they just. Sara left me a message.”

“Ah…and?”

“She had every right to say what she said.”

“I take it she was upset?”

“Ya think? Just when I thought we'd…be okay. I always mess it up somehow. Not be there on certain days…stuff.” Jack sighed.

“She doesn't believe the accusations Jack. She can't! She must know you better than anyone.”

Jack grunted in reply. He sat there resting his head against the back of the chair.

“Maybe she left another message…oh. You only played one. That's why you didn't get mine.” deduced Daniel correctly.

“So why are you here?” asked Jack again, eyes closed.

“Checking on you. I told you.”

“Don't have to.”

“We were worried.”

“Well don't be. I can take care of myself.”

“So I see.”

“I'm not gonna do anything silly I'm just... I wanted to see the stars.” Jack was not going to tell Daniel that he didn't know when he'd come up here or whether he'd trashed the lounge …

“I know, they mean a lot to you, don't they.”

“Yeah, they keep me grounded when the entire world goes to hell in a hand basket. Which seems to happen to me…oh, about every other week.”

“Well, you don't always do things the way people expect you to. But it seems to work most of the time.”

“You don't always agree with me, nor do what I tell you! Crap, this sorry mess could make things awkward at the SGC.”

“Jack you don't have to worry about us, the SGC. Nothings changed.”

“That's where you're wrong!”

“Don't do this to yourself Jack.”

“Appearances can be deceptive. I've done plenty of it when I was in special ops.”

“But we know you would never…”

“I know… thanks.”

“Jack, you can't sleep up here, let's go back inside.”

When Jack didn't resist too much Daniel knew Jack was emotionally and physically tired out.

Daniel went down ladder first, and kept an eye on Jack as he followed a moment later. He managed the ladder fine, but now seemed tired out. Daniel was glad he'd come. Jack would have slept outside in the cold otherwise.

“Jack are you still on medication?”

“Oops,”

“Janet is going to be so mad.”

“Then don't tell her!”

“Go to bed and rest. I'll stay. It's 0030 for goodness sake. You've had a long day.”

“Okay, okay, if it'll keep you quiet!”

Jack padded off to the bathroom and then went to bed. Daniel made himself some coffee, and wandered around down stairs before checking on Jack.

Daniel quietly opened the door and saw Jack sprawled in bed lying on his front, eyes closed.

He put a glass of water on the bedside table in case Jack wanted it later.

“Daniel?” asked Jack.

“I thought you were asleep.”

“Smelled coffee.”

“Not getting any, go to sleep, Jack.”

“Thanks.”

“That's okay.”

“No, for saying what you said up there.”

“Jack you're the most honourable man I know.”

“Daniel, you don't know everything about me,” persisted Jack

“Shh, Cassie trusts you and that's the most important thing isn't it? You can't fool her or any kid for that matter. Hell, even dogs like you without question!”

“People change, Daniel.”

“People don't suddenly do this Jack; there are hints… patterns early on. Why would you think you're going to turn into a monster?”

“I don't. Not really but…”

“I know it's not nice having people think things at the SGC. It'll blow over. Just be yourself, don't fall into the trap of believing it. I trust you. We all trust you. If we don't have that, then what else is left Jack?”

“Nothing worth a damn.”

“Night, Jack”

“Night John boy!”

Daniel smiled and left the room, shaking his head as he headed for the spare room. Jack always had to have the last word.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jack woke up; head slightly fuzzy and his wrist aching fiercely. The longer he lay there, the more it ached, and the more awake he felt. He rolled over to look at the clock. 0320. Sighing, he got out of bed. One of Doc's pills would calm things down a bit. On his way past the hall table the 3 un played messages glared in the dark. He went to the kitchen for the pills. Tense and in discomfort, he paced restlessly round the lounge, before finding himself back at the hall table.

Do or die O'Neill.

He pressed play.

 

“Jack? It's Sara again. If you're there pick up, I'm so sorry. I should never have called you like that. I was so shocked by what they were asking me….about you. Dad and I put him straight. Even after all the things we went through, you would never hurt us. Are you listening? I'm apologising here. Where are you? Call me.”

Jack noticed that she'd left two messages in three hours the day he was attacked in the police station. As he hadn't been able to call her back, she'd probably get mad again, and things would be back to square one.

This whole past month had been a complete nightmare. As if he didn't have enough of those to start with. On Hathor's planet one of his greatest fears had almost happened. Snaked, taken over, possessed.

Now on this planet, his home, his life had been temporarily hijacked and taken over in a different way- just as easily and just as horrible. Seeing the pictures of those poor girls was bad. That and Sara's message brought back a load of good and bad memories about Charlie.

Emotions he'd kept bottled up for far too long began to seep out. He suddenly realized he'd been holding his breath while the message played. He gasped for air. He sat on the steps, as he drew in a shaky breath.

You made it, O'Neill, what's the problem? Made it through death, divorce, aliens and all sorts of weird crap. You don't know what you've got till it's gone- is that it? But you hoped Sara would come through for you. And she did. Is that why it hurts?

You say you'll retire, just like that, but you don't want to really. It won't solve anything because you know that the dirty tricks and politicking won't stop. Especially now that the Stargate program has been running for a couple of years. You've tried retiring twice now. Okay, so the first time you were thinking about Russian roulette. And the second time, you made it through a year literally rebuilding your home and your life. A life that Daniel had given back to you, while you hoped he was happy on his sand planet with his beautiful wife. You never expected to see him again.

Sara may have taken the decision to leave and make things final, but you got given a second chance on Abydos . You try and keep out of trouble, but it doesn't always work out that way.

Calmer now, he got up and hit the button for the third message.

 

“Jack- this is Mike. You're never in. I hate these things…ah. Sara and I saw from the paper that the police charged some salesman with the attacks. But it also says something about an unrelated incident where a suspect was attacked in the cells. Sara's worried you didn't call back. But we know that sometimes you're away a lot, and it's not as if you actually talk about anything important…so you're probably fine. But let us know… if you are …or you aren't. Okay bye.”

Well that was another surprise.

He really had to contact his ex sometime soon. But not while he had painkillers and beer in his system. Sara might like the fact that he'd loosen up but he wouldn't. Been there and done that after the parachuting mishap. After that debacle he'd been much more in control of what the hospitals tried to give him. It had made coping with his injuries post Iraq much more difficult but they'd got through it eventually.

Jack pressed play again for the last message, wondering what Daniel had said.

 

“Hi Jack… I know you're there, come on. Oh okay…um. General Hammond told me that the detective was looking for you earlier this evening. Seems he missed you at the hospital and here at the base. He says every thing is okay. The General's fine about it. But are you okay over there? You didn't do anything to him did you? No, no of course not. I'll see you later.”

Jack smiled. Daniel had left him alone for an hour or two before worrying about it and coming over anyway. Just like his namesake- Daniel into the lion's den.

He was glad in a way. He had hit rock bottom for a moment, but he was better now. He'd dealt with it, locked it away. He had a support system in place after all.

He'd rest a bit more tomorrow, make a phone call, and get back into shape so that he could be placed back on the duty roster. He figured he'd be safer on an alien planet, after all he had his team behind him didn't he?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Far away in Washington in a deep and distant office a phone rang

“It didn't work. Sorry, the pawn got away and ruined everything.”

“There'll be another chance. We just have to be patient. He's brash enough to do something stupid some other time and place. Hammond can't protect him for ever.”

“Fine with me. I agree with your assessment. I've got eyes and ears open in the Mountain, just waiting.”

“Good, that's what I pay you for.”

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The end


End file.
